Disposable gloves are typically packed in a paper box similar to a conventional facial tissue box. Such a prior art box 10 is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. The conventional glove box 10 is typically of unitary paper construction and includes a bottom 11, sides 12, and top 13 that define an open cavity 14 therein. A measured quantity of gloves 15 are loaded within the cavity 14. A slot 16, situated in the top 13 of the box 10, provides an opening for a user to access the gloves 15 within the box 10. The slot 16 is typically narrow to prevent a user from grasping more than one or two gloves at a time. The purpose of the prior art glove box 10 is to enable a user to extract one glove or two gloves at a time as needed for use in surgery, food preparation, automobile repair, or other applications.
Unfortunately, there are several disadvantages with the conventional glove packaging method as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. One disadvantage of the packaging method is that the box is constructed of paper, which is a substantially weak material. Gloves are typically constructed of elastomeric materials such as latex rubber, which is substantially tougher than paper. Unlike tissues, which are folded and stacked by machinery and then inserted in an ordered fashion in the tissue box, gloves are dispersed randomly in the conventional glove box. As a result of the gloves being dispersed randomly, the gloves become interlocked and it is difficult to remove a single glove from the box. A consequence of the gloves becoming interlocked, a portion of the conventional paper glove box surrounding the top opening will frequently be torn as a user attempts to pull a glove from the box. At other times, a glove will be torn as it is pulled from the box as a result of the tightly packed gloves within the box exerting substantial pressure on other gloves that it is in contact with. Another negative consequence of the light paper construction and the tightly packed gloves is that the glove box frequently lifts off of the surface that it is resting on, thereby causing the user to apply two hands to the box in order to dispense a glove.
A further drawback of the conventional paper glove box is that, as a result of the opaque paper construction and the narrow slot for dispensing a single glove, only a narrow portion of the gloves within the box are visible to the user. Thus, it is extremely difficult for a user to discern whether they have grasped a single glove or a plurality of gloves at once. In the case of surgical gloves this leads to considerable waste as any gloves that are spilled out of the box are typically considered unsanitary and are discarded without being used. Additionally, once the seal at the slot of the paper box glove dispenser is removed, there is no easy way of resealing the box to protect the gloves.
What is needed therefore is an improved packaging method that stores gloves in such a manner that they are loosely dispersed within a container and can be easily dispensed one at a time. The packaging method should include a container that is structurally sound for storage and shipping and not easily torn or deformed when gloves are removed there from. The packaging method should further provide good visibility to enable a user to extract only the desired amount of gloves at a time. The packaging method should further include a resealing method to enable sealing off the opened container after the initial use.